Mary B. McDowell hasn’t lived in Sharon, Pennsylvania since 1975, when she moved to New York City.  But when she returned for a visit one Labor Day weekend, she had an awakening. 

Every Labor Day weekend, Buhl Day takes place, honoring its long-time family of benefactors, including Mary B.  Last fall, 10,000 people took part in the parade, which ends at the Buhl Farm, a farm/park the Buhls gave to Sharon.  Buhl Farm has a free golf course, large outdoor pool, lake, band shell and picnic area, and it's managed by the F.H. Buhl Trustees, of which Mary B. and her husband, brother and father were all President of the Board.

“I haven’t been back to Sharon much over the years, and it opened my eyes to the work everyone is doing,” she said. “It was absolutely monumental.  And I was so impressed with it that I changed my thinking in regards to what I wanted for my estate when I was no longer around to manage it.  It seemed righ and fair that a sizeable share go back to the Shenango Valley to be administered by the F.H. Buhl Trustees.”

The bulk of the money came to Mary B. through an inheritance from her great aunt and uncle, Julia F. and Frank H. Buhl, who are no relation to the Pittsburgh Buhls. Frank had moved the Buhl Steel Co. to Sharon upon marrying Julia Forker Buhl, and it later became part of U.S. Steel.

“I had very strong feelings that if I didn’t specify something, that this money might go to South Carolina or New York (where she’s lived), and I feel very strongly that the money should go back to where it was earned, to where the genesis was.”

A cousin in Pittsburgh got Mary B. in touch with The Pittsburgh Foundation, and, as she said, “It’s been a very happy relationship. I’m 83 years old, and at my age nothing’s easy.  But they made it as easy for me as they possibly could.”

She created two funds, the Mary B. Forker McDowell Educational Trust, which is a scholarship fund to help disadvantaged and needy young people in the Mercer County/Shenango Valley area, and the Mary B. Forker McDowell F.H. Buhl Farm Trust, which is to be used to keep the Buhl Farm strong.